1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a toner housing container and an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In electrophotographic image forming apparatuses, a powder conveying device supplies (or replenishes) a toner serving as a developer from a toner container, which is a powder housing container housing the developer in the powder form, into a developing device.
For example, there is proposed a toner housing container that includes a rotatable tubular powder housing member, a conveying pipe receiving member fixed to the powder housing member, an opening provided in the conveying pipe receiving member, and an uplifting portion configured to uplift the toner upward in the container along with rotation of the container body (e.g., see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2012-133349). According to this proposed technique, the toner is uplifted by the uplifting portion along with rotation of the container body, and the toner falls from the uplifting portion during the rotation and is supplied into the conveying pipe.
However, in the system employing the mechanism of uplifting the toner by the uplifting portion and supplying the toner into the conveying pipe, there is a problem that when the amount of toner remaining in the toner bottle becomes low, it is difficult for the toner to be replenished into the developing device.
Therefore, it is currently requested to provide a toner housing container that can replenish a toner into a developing device even when the amount of toner remaining in the toner housing container becomes low.